The Napier Place and Sudekum neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee, have several positive assets, such as engaged, long-term residents, a public library and recreation center, mentoring and workforce development programs, local parks, churches, K-12 schools, a federally qualified health clinic, a new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Envision Center, reliable bus lines, and proximity to the interstate highways and downtown Nashville. HUD recently invested a Choice Neighborhoods Planning grant award to support an equity-driven, mixed-income, mixed-use community of opportunity. Additionally, Census tract 148 is located in a federal Promise Zone and Opportunity Zone to help incentivize economic development. However, this community has a long history of economic challenges.

In 1931, the relocation of Meharry Medical College and sale of the original Metro General Hospital, which had dominated the economic activity in the community, led to the relocation of prominent doctors and healthcare workers. In the void, the construction of Napier Place in 1941 was restricted to rental housing for low-income White residents, and the construction of the adjacent Sudekum Apartments in 1953, was restricted to rental housing for low-income Black residents. These developments dramatically changed the neighborhood, segregated residents, and disrupted the character and street grid of the former integrated single-family home community. The construction of Interstate 40, which forms the north and east boundaries of the neighborhood, further eroded connectivity to the rest of the city and created both physical and psychological barriers to Downtown Nashville.

In 2022, the median annual household income in the Napier and Sudekum neighborhood was less than $7,000. The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA), the local public housing authority, provides subsidized housing in this community. Resident demographics in Napier and Suekum are 93 percent and 95 percent Black, respectively. Additionally, both neighborhoods house populations are 65 percent female. Youth under the age of 18 make up 49 percent of the residents in Napier and 60 percent of the residents in Sudekum.

In comparing county and national rates of violent crime offenses to residents within census tract 148, there are 13 times more violent crimes in these neighborhoods than the rest of Nashville and the national rate. While these neighborhoods represent only 0.5 percent of Nashville’s population, they represent nearly 8 percent of its violent crimes, and there is a violent crime for roughly every 5 residents.

The MDHA has installed 240 security cameras to supplement law enforcement surveillance. The surveillance cameras have assisted the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) in several prosecutions in both state and federal courts. The MDHA supports overtime pay for MNPD officers to engage residents and build trust. Officers share that they enjoy this opportunity and are eager to sign up for the voluntary shifts. Officers credit these opportunities for the beginnings of resident cooperation in crime solving.

A local church hosts monthly community safety meetings with officers and residents. The average attendance is typically 15-30 residents (including minors) and representatives’ various stakeholders and community-based resources. During this meeting residents are encouraged to express needs and concerns, law enforcement professionals respond to feedback and provide verbal status reports on violent crimes, and resources share information that could benefit the group. While total Uniform Crime Reporting Part I violent crimes have steadily decreased in these neighborhoods between 2016 and 2022, violent crime, specifically gun violence, remains extensive.

The project vision builds upon existing neighborhood assets to create a cohesive, connected, safe, and diverse community of choice, as well as improve residents' quality of life. The Planning Phase of MDHA's Community Safety Program builds on intensive planning and community engagement work to develop Envision Napier and Sudekum, a comprehensive community revitalization plan developed using a HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning grant. That effort included significant community discussions on ways to improve community safety, which are the foundation on which this project is based.

MDHA’s Community Safety Program focused its first year and a 1/2 on planning and research activities through the implementation of participatory action research (PAR) methods led by the BCJI program coordinator and in collaboration with academic co-researchers.

The site’s overall goals are that residents feel safe within their neighborhood, residents create and maintain positive partnerships with local law enforcement, and that public safety is a community-focused, resident-led collaborative effort. To meet these goals, the specific strategies will result in two primary metrics:

1. Decrease UCR Part I Violent Crimes Rate by 20% (Current: 44.09, Goal: 35.23)
2. Increase the percentage of residents who report positive relationships with police outside emergency situations by 14% (Current: 26%, Goal: 40%), while increasing the capacity for residents to participate in crime prevention.
    

Using a continuum of policing strategies to address serious and violent crime, this project will focus on activities that center on youth enrichment and education, crime prevention through community engagement and education, crime prevention and enforcement through engagement and accessibility.

The project plans to address these items through the following strategies:

• Community engagement and mobilization through Neighborhood Watch, an evidence-based program that involves citizens trying to prevent crime in their neighborhood. Citizens remain alert for suspicious activities and report those activities to the police. The practice is rated Promising in reducing crime.
• After-School Programs are evidence-based and are designed to decrease the amount of time youth are unsupervised. The practice is rated Promising for child self-perceptions, school bonding, school grades, positive social behaviors, problem behaviors, reading scores and mathematics scores.
• Street Lighting in Stoke-on-Trent is an evidence-based program that upgrades street lighting on residential roads and footpaths to decrease crime and fear of crime. This program is rated Effective. In the experimental area, there were statistically significant reductions in the incidence and prevalence rates of crime and in the percentage of respondents who knew a victim.
• Hot Spots Policing is an evidence-based program which focuses on small geographic areas or places, usually in urban settings, where crime is concentrated. Through hot spots policing strategies, law enforcement agencies can focus limited resources in areas where crime is most likely to occur. This practice is rated Effective for reducing overall crime and rated Promising for reducing violent, property, public order, and drug and alcohol offenses.
• Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) is an evidence-based program that uses analytic methods to develop crime prevention and reduction strategies. The practice is rated Promising and led to a significant decline in crime and disorder.

Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, District U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nashville Juvenile Court, District 17 Council Member Terry Vo, Napier Resident Association, Sudekum Resident Association, Church of the Messiah, Lafayette Avenue Merchant Association, Neighborhood Health, Nashville Conflict Resolution Center, Metro Office of Family Safety, Two Rivers Middle School, Napier Elementary.